Pages

A longtime rural resident, I use my 60 plus years of life learning to opinionate here and elsewhere on the “interweb” on everything from politics to environmental issues. A believer in reasonable discourse rather than unhelpful attacks I try to give positive input to the blogesphere, so feel free to comment upon rural issues or anything else posted here. But don’t be surprised if you comments get zapped if you are not polite in your replys.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Recently my son, upon renewing his drivers license was told that
his Ontario Health card had been revoked in that he did not respond
to a renewal request sent to the address where we originally lived
when the card was issued some thirty plus years ago. It seems that if
you do not use your card for a period of 7 years and have moved in
the meanwhile that , despite having updated numerous other documents
including you Ontario Drivers license, that the heath services which
you are entitled to and pay for in your taxes will be automatically
revoked. If you have not used any heath services in 5 or more years you
had best check and make sure your card is still valid, and if you have moved get the card updated, there are
a number of cases documented online where such citizens have had
payment demanded before receiving necessary treatment.

The only good thing here is that apparently a recent change to the
'system' brings up a red flag when you renew your drivers license (or
at least it did in my sons case) and thus you will eventually be
aware of the revocation. The strange thing is if the government is
aware of the card being invalid when licence renewal taking place why
cannot they send a renewal notice to whatever current address is in
their database for your drivers license. I am quite certain that 99%
of folks are not aware of the necessity to notify the Ministry of
Heath of a change of address since most such cards do not contain
that information (I cannot speak for the new photo ID cards since we
here all have the old red and white lifetime cards and very rarely
use doctor or hospital services. I am further convinced that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of Ontario citizens who are in the same position with no heath coverage but are unaware of it. It now seems to me that those who do
not abuse the system are being penalized for NOT adding the the cost
of such services.

It must be noted here that you can get a new heath card at Service
Ontario whilst renewing you licence however despite having your license to hand and even details of your revoked card still on the
'system' you will need to provide further proof of your identity,
citizenship and marital status, this is also true if simply renewing
you existing valid photo card!

UPDATE
To add insult to injury it seems that whilst you can replace a damaged, lost or stolen card at any License Office "Heath Card Services" are NOT available at most small rural and small town license offices so it seems you must travel to a major center to replace your "revoked" Heath Card!

The Rant

I am a Canadian by choice not chance.
I am a country boy not a city slicker.
I have a dog not a doorbell, a collie not a rottweiler, a friend not a pet.
I walk in the woods not the streets.
I have a truck not a car, a barn not a garage, a septic system not a sewer.
I live on a gravel road not a paved road.
I have dial up not high speed, a mailbox not a letterbox, a yard light not a street light.
I shoot photo’s not trophies.
I am old not young, married not single, poor not rich, over taxed not over sexed.
I heat with wood not gas,
I respect my neighbors not numb-sculls, police not politicians , hikers not hunters.
I am a RURAL Canadian.